7/22/11

{update}: the flow

I feel like I need to blog.  When I go too long I feel like I must be missing something.  And I really do look at this as my journal, and that's probably why I worry.

Life is busy.  As usual.  We went up to Salt Lake last weekend to relax and visit Jon's best friend from high school-Curtis.  It was a lot of fun.  They have a cute little girl, and his sis that we stayed with also has a cute little girl and so we had 3 sweet little girls running around and having a great time all weekend.  Oh!  And the weather was SOO nice!  Somehow, I didn't take a single picture.  Ooops. 

While in Salt Lake I also had the opportunity to meet Jessa's new little baby boy and take his picture.  I just love to snuggle newborns.  And they smell SOO good.  Mmmmm.

I'm trying desperately to catch up on editing.  It's happening slowly but surely.

I've recently become an herbal tea drinker.  I've always enjoyed it every now and again, but lately I have a few cups a day.  It really helps my throat and nose (which, as usual are all upset from allergies).  I've found a "throat coat" and an echinacea kind that is delicious steeped together.  And it's a great way to get my daily dose of local honey.

Paisley has been doing much, much better.  I think maybe she was just going through some painful teething because she's really mellowed out again.  She loves to hug me and give me kisses-and I love to hug her and give her kisses too!  She is 100% fearless at the pool, and will jump into the deep end before I can get there to catch her!  She is getting more and more grown up every day.  She now knows how to climb onto the chairs at the table and insists on sitting there, she likes to use big girl cups, and she's really grown more accustomed to her big girl bed.  Realizing that she's going to be 2 next month is still really crazy to me-it seems like she's always been here, but at the same time like she was born yesterday. 

Everyone around me is having babies.  Which leads to continual discussions about diapering, breast-feeding and the like.  It's so strange to me that I nursed for the whole year, which wasn't that long ago, but seems like forever ago...and I do miss it.  I like snuggling little babies.

And last, but not least-I'm totally going to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn tonight.  And my dear sweet husband is coming with me.  The best part?  We're totally going on a scooter date-which we haven't done in a really long time and I'm super excited.  I'll try and be naughty and snap a picture to post!

7/12/11

{natural disasters}: our trip to the lake


Last Saturday we took a trip up to Yankee Meadows.  Oddly enough, a good portion of folks I've talked to that grew up here don't even know where this is.  (It's off the Parowan exit up the canyon on the way to Brianhead if you're wondering).  Anyway-we thought it would be fun to go up and get out of the heat for a day.  Unfortunately, the weather has been really stormy and after coming out of the movie late Friday night to a raging thunderstorm (Transformers was awesome, btw) we debated going Saturday.  Saturday morning I woke up exhausted (we stayed up WAY too late Friday night), but decided a nice relaxing trip to the lake might be a good thing, even if we get some rain.
**Side note:  Paisley has been throwing some EPIC tantrums lately.  I am now realizing it has more to do with her teeth killing her than her disposition, but regardless Friday I made the mistake of going to Target with her toward the beginning of her nap time and she screamed the ENTIRE hour I was there-with a full blown wrestling match at the cash register.  Wrestling a wiggly, screaming 25 lb weight has really begun to develop my arm muscles and I think I could actually hurt someone if I punched them!! Oh, and I tell this side note because I actually woke up sore from the wrestling-both emotionally and physically.

Back to the story.  Saturday morning we threw everything together and left with Chad and Sarah to drive up to Cedar.  Paisley chose not to sleep, even though we left at nap time and she usually sleeps in the car.  We stopped at the Cedar City Wal-mart to top off our supplies and Paisley decided to again throw an epic tantrum.  It was bad.  I took her out to wait for everyone else to check out and again had to spend a good 10 minutes wrestling with her, screaming at the top of her lungs.  (I didn't think to just get the car keys)  It was quite a scene.  After that we stopped at Pastry Pub (LOVE!!!) and were on our way up the canyon.  At this point, Paisley finally passed out from what could only be exhaustion.  I was so grateful because she really is such a good kid as long as she gets her naps.  5 minutes later, she woke up.  argh. 
We made it up the canyon, to Yankee and parked, realizing that we needed to prioritize what we needed from the car to hike around to the other side of the lake.  Luckily I took an extra diaper and hoodies and dressed Paisley in warmer clothes (it was around 60 F, so not TOO terribly cold.  We grabbed the fishing stuff and hiked around to the other side.  Just as we had set up our benches, finished our lunches and started fishing, Paisley went ahead and fell in the lake.  She was fine-but she drenched all of her clothes!!  So we dried her off and I wrapped her up in her blanket and she looked like she was going to go to sleep!!  nope.  Then it started to downpour.  Luckily I had our thick denim blanket so we huddled under there until it stopped, Paisley screaming and thrashing a good portion of the time.  Then the rain stopped and Paisley wanted to run around.  Not wanting her to soak the one clean diaper I had put on her (if she happened to fall back in), I took it off and just let her run free.  (this is when the above pic was taken).  Luckily too when the rain would stop, the sun would come out and it would warm up quite rapidly.  We fished and sat for a bit, and then Paisley fell in the lake again.  She actually fell in the moment after I took the picture. 
*Second Side note:  This last week Jon finally acquired the phone of his dreams.  He loves it.  It is brand new and shiny.  It is expensive-and while it is insured, it will still be expensive to replace.
Jon jumped in to save our child from drowning, once again.  And took his phone into the lake with him.  You can imagine that his mood was not so great for the rest of the day.  In my defense-I was taking a picture...and I had the camera around my neck (which is worth more than the phone) and I rescued her the first time.  We actually are thinking maybe we should have just left her to flounder a bit longer because she did not learn her lesson...

Rinsed off and clean from her second dip in the lake, we diapered her up, wrapped her in my hoodie and began our trek back to the car to start dinner.  The rest of the day kind of went on like the beginning:
  • The wood was super wet and it took a long time to get a sufficient fire started.
  • Paisley would not take her second nap-we put her in the car, we laid her out on the blanket, we tried and tried and tried to no avail.  Extreme fussing and general grumpiness resulted.
  • The boys left us to go exploring further up the canyon (they took the car) and I had nightmares of them not coming back...just the thoughts were terrifying.
  • I burned the tin-foil dinners because I really thought I knew what I was doing...ug.
  • It down poured again before the boys had come back and everything got soaked...including us.
  • My cobbler was described as baked frosting with syrup on top.
*Third Side note:  Cobblers are meant to be made with canned fruit, not fruit pie filling.  So if you use pie filling, it can cause your cobbler to be WAY too sweet.  Also, cobblers are meant to be made with a plain cake mix like yellow or white.  Not with a vanilla cake mix, which also results in WAY too sweet.  If you use both pie filling and 2 boxes of vanilla cake mix your cobbler will probably be described as "baked frosting with syrup on top."

After dinner Jon and Chad hiked a bit up the lake to fish some before we left and Sarah and I cleaned up what we could.  We decided to wander over and get the boys after and at this point my arms were so tired from holding Paisley I made her walk.  This was the end.  She screamed the entire time around the lake...but kept following me because I was walking away from her.  And yes, I am a terrible mother-I know, believe me, I know.  Fortunately by the time we reached Jon she was so worn out that I picked her up and she instantly fell asleep in my arms.  Wonderful.  We went back and enjoyed the sunset over the lake for a minute, the boys choking down my delicious cobbler. 

And we slept the whole way home.

7/5/11

{holidays}: the 4th

Our 4th of July was so fun!  We spent it with the Coopers and a bunch of their neighborhood.  We blocked off the streets so the kids could run free and it was so much fun!
Paisley had a good time with all the cute boys.


I love taking pictures of all the yummy food.

I love chocolate ice cream and ridiculous blue eyeshadow...

Paisley could not get enough lemonade.  She completely covered herself in food, sno cone, lemonade and popsicle so by the time it was getting dark we ran in and hosed her down and switched her to jammies.

She LOVED the sparklers!


Some neighbors nearby were lighting off aerial fireworks and she thought the were so awesome!  They put on quite a show.


We lit off some of our own...luckily everyone kept their eyebrows.


7/1/11

{growing pains}: potty training+update

I'm in the thick of potty training and it's horrible!!  I know, I know, she is young.  I've read in more than one book that 22 months is a good time to start, and I really think she's capable BUT if things don't start going a little smoother here in the near future we may just keep her in diapers til kindergarten.  They aren't that expensive...I feel that the counseling that I'm going to need to be ok after this will be more expensive.  The method I am most specifically following is the 3 day potty training.  I agree with it's philosophy, and like I said, I really think Paisley is capable.  I'm just wondering if we took on too much too soon.
About a month ago I decided that I would start potty training this week.  I scheduled it on my calendar.  I read and re-read the book.  I stopped buying diapers and switched to pull-ups (to get the pulling up of the the panties idea).  I stopped buying pull-ups so that I could phase them out.  We went and bought panties and a cute potty.  I put off having my carpets cleaned.  Monday night we switched Paisley's crib into a big girl bed.  I think this may have been a mistake.  You see, she wakes up at 7 and confined to a crib, plays until I come get her around 8:30 (and by 8:30, I really mean 9:30).  Well, take away the crib and leave the door open so she can let us know if she needs to go potty and I have a sweet toddler slapping me awake at 7 AM!!  Tuesday, after a night of crying (I don't think she initially liked her big girl bed) I put her in panties and we began the potty training.  Now, the method that I'm using reccommends giving lots and lots of fluids for lots and lots of practice and wearing panties so that they can get used to that.  And soak lots of panties.  And do lots of laundry.  Fast forward to today.  I've done A LOT of laundry.  Everything in my house has either been thrown into the toilet, or peed on.  And I do mean everything.  Did I mention we had apartment inspections this week?  That was neat.  Oh, and naps?  Yep, no more naps.  No longer confined to a crib she sees no need for naps-instead she pees on everything in her room (that she has dumped out of her drawers) and does all of this silently to trick me into believing that she's sleeping!!!  My child, oddly enough, is a lot like her mother and starts to go a little stir crazy after staying the in the living room for 3 days straight with her Mommy chasing her saying "Tell mama if you need to go potty!" every 5 seconds.  Because of that stir craziness, she has chosen to figure out exactly where her boundaries are...slamming doors, whining and generally harassing me as much as possible...all the while me asking her if she needs to go pee. 
I actually laid on the floor outside her room so I could peek under the door to see if she stayed in bed for her nap.  I fell like this is not why I went to college. 
Her redeeming quality?  She's dang cute.  And she just learned how to say "please?" and then says "thank you."  Oh yes, she's just terrible.  I had reached the end of my rapidly fraying rope this morning and she curled up on my lap and instantly fell asleep.  And then peed on me.  And then on my couch that I laid her on...
And if I understand this correctly...I have to go through this with every child I have?  Because if that's the case, I may really just have the one...

*Update:  I quit.  I did.  And I'm actually ok with it.  I woke up this morning with some new found clarity and I think I'm just going to wait a bit.  I really appreciate all of the encouragement-I was in a bad place.  I think switching beds and potty training all at the same time is too much to try and do with no sleep (she's still figuring out to stay in bed and not roll out onto the floor in her sleep).  So I'm going to give it some time.  I think getting adjusted to a bed and also growing up just a little bit more will really help.  She doesn't quit understand the idea of a reward system and I think when she does this will be a peice of cake.  So we'll see...